Write On Reviewed by Sue Curriculum area best suited for:
Literacy Suitable age/ level: Juniors, ESOL
Learning Intentions that fit best:
Form letters correctly
Identify some words that begin with a particular letter
Pictures animate Helpful information
Some letters are not our formation
Has cursive script
Has music and alphabet song
Can write own words on blank page – great for writing own name etc.
Can select different pictures (can buy more)
Can change colour of pencil easily erased
Great to use stylus on this app
Can select letters in any order
Has a Help video tutorial How can app be shared/ embed/ printed etc.
Screen grab Challenges:Some letters are not our formation i.e. k, q, Y
Finger Count - free Reviewed by Sue Curriculum area best suited for:
Numeracy Suitable age/ level:Juniors Learning Intentions that fit best:
Number Recognition.
Forwards and backwards counting to 100 Helpful Information
Touch screen to show numbers in sequence
Once number is on screen, can touch a number and it is named
and disappears
Limited in its use. How can app be shared/ embed/ printed etc.
Screen grab only Challenges: Children’s reflections
Story KitReviewed by Sue
Curriculum area best suited for:
Literacy, topic
Suitable age/ level:
all levels
Learning Intentions that fit best:
Share your learning by making a book
Write a story in any genre and illustrate and record the text
Easy to make new pages
Illustrations can be drawn or insert photo images
Type text
Record text easily and replay
How can app be shared/ embed/ printed etc.
Can be shared by email but these iPads are not set up for this
The finished books go onto a bookshelf within the app
When you click share you have the option of uploading to StoryKit web server
Challenges:
Requires flash when sharing so you get the sound
Can’t delete a book
Children’s reflections:
Name of App: JellyBeanCount Reviewed by Ann
Curriculum area best suited for: Maths
Suitable age/ level: all ages
Learning Intentions that fit best: Counting, +-x and division???
Didn’t get to this stage but have seen it previously
How can app be to shared/ embed/ printed etc: a photo can be taken
by a screen grab and used in a variety of ways.
Challenges: for young children it gets harder quickly. Find adjusting the
settings difficult for younger students, found it quit out a few times on
different iPads
Children’s reflections: enjoy counting the jelly beans and putting on
the fingers
Name of App: Easy write combo Reviewed by Andrea Print trace, cursive trace, numbers trace. Has speak the letter, trace the letter, erase options to view before child attempts to trace the letter independently.
Curriculum area best suited for: Literacy - handwriting
Suitable age/ level: Juniors (years 1-3)
Learning Intentions that fit best: forming letters/numbers correctly; recognising letters/numbers
How can app be to shared/ embed/ printed etc: Take a screen shot and copy, post etc. Best as a single ‘player’ app.
Challenges: quite large font – unable to change the size of the font may limit practice opportunities
Children’s reflections: Not as interactive as some apps, so perhaps limited excitement for older students.
Name of App: 100 butterflies Reviewed by Andrea
Curriculum area best suited for: Maths
Suitable age/ level: 1-3
Learning Intentions that fit best: order numbers from 1 to 100
How can app be to shared/ embed/ printed etc: Could be used for single player or perhaps up to three players. Take a screen shot and copy, post etc.
Challenges: knowing that you have the numbers in order being shown to you on Free Play; being able to recognise and order the numbers on Quest Play using two hands to work more quickly. Does have sound and instructions on which number to find next on the Quest Play option – Find number 89 – That’s not it – Have another try
Children’s reflections: Helps for counting up to 100. A nice ‘game.’
Name of App: Word Genius Reviewed by Andrea Making words out of given letters – you have to slide your fingers between the letters that are adjacent from the last one you touched. Quite tricky at first, but it gets clearer
Curriculum area best suited for: Literacy - spelling
Suitable age/ level: years 3-6
Learning Intentions that fit best: generate and spell words from a selection of given letters.
How can app be to shared/ embed/ printed etc: probably best for a single player, but has potential for two children to work together to make words. Take a screen shot and copy, post etc.
Challenges: You have to generate the words to spell yourself. Experience in using the app will improve player ability to generate and spell words from the given letters. Tells you the total points as a summary – with lists of words and stats
Children’s reflections: Quite fun!
Name of App:Pizza Fractions Reviewed by Anne-Marie
Curriculum area best suited for: Maths Props/Ratios
Suitable age/ level: Year 2 to Year 4
Learning Intentions that fit best: practice matching fractions to shaded areas
How can app be to shared/ embed/ printed etc. not needed
Challenges:
can change levels: easy med, hard. The hard level isn’t that much different from the easy just more pieces cut and shaded. I was expecting decimal fractions.
Limited appeal, it gets boring quickly
Children’s reflections:
Name of App:Pearl Diver Reviewed by Anne-Marie
Curriculum area best suited for: Maths- not recommended
Suitable age/ level:
Learning Intentions that fit best:
How can app be to shared/ embed/ printed etc. not needed
Challenges: gets to hard to quickly, I wouldn’t recommend it, you can’t alter the levels Maybe this is one we contact the developer and get them to change the levels?
Children’s reflections:
MultiTouchMath Reviewed by Sue
Curriculum area best suited for:
Mathematics
Suitable age/ level:
5 to adult
change questions to suit ability
Learning Intentions that fit best:
Practise basic fact maths addition, subtraction, multiplication, division
Answer the questions with your finger tips – answers are a combination of numbers 1, 2, 5, and 10
Use settings to change the number of questions and maximum answer (to 200)
How can app be shared/ embed/ printed etc.
Screen grab only
Challenges:
Need more than 1 person as you often need multiple fingers to solve problems
Don’t seem able to clear the leader board – to give younger children a chance to get on to it
Cross Curricular
Creation
Name of App:Make dice lite Reviewed by: Steph
Curriculum area best suited for:
All as the dice can have numbers, letters, signs etc. on them.
Suitable age/ level: All
Learning Intentions that fit best: a quick recall situation,
when the dice are rolled then the learner is engaged in solving
or providing information from the dice. eg. roll 2 die and get the answer or
How can app be to shared/ embed/ printed etc. No, but you can take a screen shot
(magic button and on/off button) and put that into anything to show learning or explain e.g. In to a comic life.
Challenges: Select play at the opening screen, not buy. Pay version is not that
much better so we have opted to not at the moment (can be reviewed). Another
challenge is to not spend too much time making new dice, selecting colours etc.
Children’s reflections: Have done this app as an app of the week. They find it
very easy, fun noisy (the roll of the dice is noisy but encouraged children to turn
sound off when in class)
If you like this then you may like iRolldice (gives up to 10 sided dice)
Name of App:Comic life Reviewed by: Ann
Curriculum area best suited for: presenting - Information, photos, learning explanations reflections etc.
Suitable age/ level: probably year 3 up younger students would need a lot of help.
Learning Intentions that fit best: explanations and informing others.
How can app be to shared/ embed/ printed etc. - dropbox, printed and shared on blogs, emails etc.
Challenges: I thought it was more difficult to use than on the computer but I think you would very quickly get used to the limitations.
Children’s reflections: too difficult for 5 year olds
Name of App: Squeak my voice Reviewed by: Ann
Curriculum area best suited for: English - Oral language, drama, special needs /fun
Suitable age/ level: any age
Learning Intentions that fit best:
How can app be to shared/ embed/ printed etc. Sounds are saved and
can be email in an aiff format. (We are not set up for email on iPads at this
stage, but could be if we find a need) Can pick this up and it downloads to iTunes)
Challenges: none
Name of App: Sock Puppet Reviewed by: Steph
Curriculum area best suited for: all (great start for junior chn to lead into
puppet pals)
Suitable age/ level: simple instructions so can be any
Learning Intentions that fit best: suit what ever you would like to talk
about, some of the props and backgrounds could match what you
may want to cover.
How can app be to shared/ embed/ printed etc: can send to You Tube
(have an account first) from there you can post to your blog etc.
Challenges: staying focused on LIs, records in one go, can’t edit have
to start again (like Puppet Pals
Children’s reflections: Great fun, working together, can do anything.
Other: similar concept to Puppet Pals with less complexity but also
less flexibility.
Tools
Other
Name of App:QR Reader (Quick response) Reviewed by: Steph
Curriculum area best suited for: All as it is just a reader; the creator is in
charge of the curriculum area and what the QRs contain. A QR can be text,
URL ( take you to a site) or a contact. (Put in links to treasure hunt maker and some other links)
Suitable age/ level: all (make sure younger users are taking care of ipads and
holding carefully to scan, don’t put QRs too high or obstructed by objects.
Learning Intentions that fit best: any, it can be as creative as you want it to be. I
have had children create QR treasure hunt of a rung of their basic facts ladder.
The creating of the questions was powerful then the practice of the QR invaluable,
then put up around an area for others to use (can keep as a resources so long
as you know questions are good.)
How can app be to shared/ embed/ printed etc. You can create a treasure hunt
using QR code treasure hunt creator (link) and this can be shared, edited etc.
The iPad app is for accessing codes rather than creating, much easier to do on
a laptop, and send straight to print. The QRs are saved so once you have scanned
you can sit in one place and go through the QRs, this makes it easier for the
learners to use the information in a way that works for them, making connections
between clues or going back to information that may have been challenging.
Challenges: Making the QRs takes time, creating, printing, putting up around
school etc. Have had the occasional one that doesn’t work.
Children’s reflections: They always cheers when they know QRs are
involved. It means getting outside, working in pairs and something
different. They love how it is so ‘quick’.
Name of App: Fling Reviewed by Anne-Marie
Curriculum area best suited for: Thinking
Suitable age/ level: Year 2-3 to adult
Learning Intentions that fit best: fun/thinking laterally/cause & effect
How can app be to shared/ embed/ printed etc. not needed
Challenges: addictive, not linked to a curriculum area
Children’s reflections:
Bump Reviewed by Sue
Curriculum area best suited for:
Suitable age/ level:
All
Learning Intentions that fit best:
Sharing of information quickly and easily
Use Bump to share photos and or information by simply bumping 2 Apple devices (iphones, itouches, ipads)
How can app be shared/ embed/ printed etc.
Share information by bumping
Challenges:
Only uses Apple mobile devices
you need to be close by the other device so you can bump them together
Literacy
Numeracy
Curriculum area best suited for:
Literacy
Suitable age/ level: Juniors, ESOL
Learning Intentions that fit best:
Form letters correctly
Identify some words that begin with a particular letter
Pictures animate
Helpful information
Some letters are not our formation
Has cursive script
Has music and alphabet song
Can write own words on blank page – great for writing own name etc.
Can select different pictures (can buy more)
Can change colour of pencil easily erased
Great to use stylus on this app
Can select letters in any order
Has a Help video tutorial
How can app be shared/ embed/ printed etc.
Screen grab
Challenges:Some letters are not our formation i.e. k, q, Y
Curriculum area best suited for:
Numeracy
Suitable age/ level:Juniors
Learning Intentions that fit best:
Number Recognition.
Forwards and backwards counting to 100
Helpful Information
Touch screen to show numbers in sequence
Once number is on screen, can touch a number and it is named
and disappears
Limited in its use.
How can app be shared/ embed/ printed etc.
Screen grab only
Challenges:
Children’s reflections
Story Kit Reviewed by Sue
Curriculum area best suited for:
Literacy, topic
Suitable age/ level:
all levels
Learning Intentions that fit best:
Share your learning by making a book
Write a story in any genre and illustrate and record the text
Easy to make new pages
Illustrations can be drawn or insert photo images
Type text
Record text easily and replay
How can app be shared/ embed/ printed etc.
Can be shared by email but these iPads are not set up for this
The finished books go onto a bookshelf within the app
When you click share you have the option of uploading to StoryKit web server
Challenges:
Requires flash when sharing so you get the sound
Can’t delete a book
Children’s reflections:
Curriculum area best suited for: Maths
Suitable age/ level: all ages
Learning Intentions that fit best: Counting, +-x and division???
Didn’t get to this stage but have seen it previously
How can app be to shared/ embed/ printed etc: a photo can be taken
by a screen grab and used in a variety of ways.
Challenges: for young children it gets harder quickly. Find adjusting the
settings difficult for younger students, found it quit out a few times on
different iPads
Children’s reflections: enjoy counting the jelly beans and putting on
the fingers
Print trace, cursive trace, numbers trace. Has speak the letter, trace the letter,
erase options to view before child attempts to trace the letter independently.
Curriculum area best suited for: Literacy - handwriting
Suitable age/ level: Juniors (years 1-3)
Learning Intentions that fit best: forming letters/numbers correctly; recognising
letters/numbers
How can app be to shared/ embed/ printed etc: Take a screen shot and copy, post etc.
Best as a single ‘player’ app.
Challenges: quite large font – unable to change the size of the font may limit
practice opportunities
Children’s reflections: Not as interactive as some apps, so perhaps limited
excitement for older students.
Curriculum area best suited for: Maths
Suitable age/ level: 1-3
Learning Intentions that fit best: order numbers from 1 to 100
How can app be to shared/ embed/ printed etc: Could be used for single
player or perhaps up to three players. Take a screen shot and copy, post etc.
Challenges: knowing that you have the numbers in order being shown to
you on Free Play; being able to recognise and order the numbers on Quest
Play using two hands to work more quickly. Does have sound and instructions
on which number to find next on the Quest Play option – Find number 89 – That’s not it – Have another try
Children’s reflections: Helps for counting up to 100. A nice ‘game.’
Making words out of given letters – you have to slide your
fingers between the letters that are adjacent from the last
one you touched. Quite tricky at first, but it gets clearer
Curriculum area best suited for: Literacy - spelling
Suitable age/ level: years 3-6
Learning Intentions that fit best: generate and spell words from
a selection of given letters.
How can app be to shared/ embed/ printed etc: probably best for a
single player, but has potential for two children to work together to
make words. Take a screen shot and copy, post etc.
Challenges: You have to generate the words to spell yourself.
Experience in using the app will improve player ability to generate
and spell words from the given letters.
Tells you the total points as a summary – with lists of words and stats
Children’s reflections: Quite fun!
Curriculum area best suited for: Maths Props/Ratios
Suitable age/ level: Year 2 to Year 4
Learning Intentions that fit best: practice matching fractions to shaded areas
How can app be to shared/ embed/ printed etc. not needed
Challenges:
can change levels: easy med, hard. The hard level isn’t that much different from the easy just more pieces cut and shaded. I was expecting decimal fractions.
Limited appeal, it gets boring quickly
Children’s reflections:
Curriculum area best suited for: Maths- not recommended
Suitable age/ level:
Learning Intentions that fit best:
How can app be to shared/ embed/ printed etc. not needed
Challenges: gets to hard to quickly, I wouldn’t recommend it, you can’t alter the levels
Maybe this is one we contact the developer and get them to change the levels?
Children’s reflections:
Curriculum area best suited for:
Mathematics
Suitable age/ level:
5 to adult
change questions to suit ability
Learning Intentions that fit best:
Practise basic fact maths addition, subtraction, multiplication, division
Answer the questions with your finger tips – answers are a combination of numbers 1, 2, 5, and 10
Use settings to change the number of questions and maximum answer (to 200)
How can app be shared/ embed/ printed etc.
Screen grab only
Challenges:
Need more than 1 person as you often need multiple fingers to solve problems
Don’t seem able to clear the leader board – to give younger children a chance to get on to it
Cross Curricular
Creation
Curriculum area best suited for:
All as the dice can have numbers, letters, signs etc. on them.
Suitable age/ level: All
Learning Intentions that fit best: a quick recall situation,
when the dice are rolled then the learner is engaged in solving
or providing information from the dice. eg. roll 2 die and get the answer or
How can app be to shared/ embed/ printed etc. No, but you can take a screen shot
(magic button and on/off button) and put that into anything to show learning or explain e.g. In to a comic life.
Challenges: Select play at the opening screen, not buy. Pay version is not that
much better so we have opted to not at the moment (can be reviewed). Another
challenge is to not spend too much time making new dice, selecting colours etc.
Children’s reflections: Have done this app as an app of the week. They find it
very easy, fun noisy (the roll of the dice is noisy but encouraged children to turn
sound off when in class)
If you like this then you may like iRolldice (gives up to 10 sided dice)
Curriculum area best suited for: presenting - Information, photos, learning explanations reflections etc.
Suitable age/ level: probably year 3 up younger students would need a lot of help.
Learning Intentions that fit best: explanations and informing others.
How can app be to shared/ embed/ printed etc. - dropbox, printed and shared on blogs, emails etc.
Challenges: I thought it was more difficult to use than on the computer but I think you would very quickly get used to the limitations.
Children’s reflections: too difficult for 5 year olds
Name of App: Squeak my voice Reviewed by: Ann
Curriculum area best suited for: English - Oral language, drama, special needs /fun
Suitable age/ level: any age
Learning Intentions that fit best:
How can app be to shared/ embed/ printed etc. Sounds are saved and
can be email in an aiff format. (We are not set up for email on iPads at this
stage, but could be if we find a need) Can pick this up and it downloads to iTunes)
Challenges: none
Name of App: Sock Puppet Reviewed by: Steph
Curriculum area best suited for: all (great start for junior chn to lead into
puppet pals)
Suitable age/ level: simple instructions so can be any
Learning Intentions that fit best: suit what ever you would like to talk
about, some of the props and backgrounds could match what you
may want to cover.
How can app be to shared/ embed/ printed etc: can send to You Tube
(have an account first) from there you can post to your blog etc.
Challenges: staying focused on LIs, records in one go, can’t edit have
to start again (like Puppet Pals
Children’s reflections: Great fun, working together, can do anything.
Other: similar concept to Puppet Pals with less complexity but also
less flexibility.
Name of App:QR Reader (Quick response) Reviewed by: Steph
Curriculum area best suited for: All as it is just a reader; the creator is in
charge of the curriculum area and what the QRs contain. A QR can be text,
URL ( take you to a site) or a contact.
(Put in links to treasure hunt maker and some other links)
Suitable age/ level: all (make sure younger users are taking care of ipads and
holding carefully to scan, don’t put QRs too high or obstructed by objects.
Learning Intentions that fit best: any, it can be as creative as you want it to be. I
have had children create QR treasure hunt of a rung of their basic facts ladder.
The creating of the questions was powerful then the practice of the QR invaluable,
then put up around an area for others to use (can keep as a resources so long
as you know questions are good.)
How can app be to shared/ embed/ printed etc. You can create a treasure hunt
using QR code treasure hunt creator (link) and this can be shared, edited etc.
The iPad app is for accessing codes rather than creating, much easier to do on
a laptop, and send straight to print. The QRs are saved so once you have scanned
you can sit in one place and go through the QRs, this makes it easier for the
learners to use the information in a way that works for them, making connections
between clues or going back to information that may have been challenging.
Challenges: Making the QRs takes time, creating, printing, putting up around
school etc. Have had the occasional one that doesn’t work.
Children’s reflections: They always cheers when they know QRs are
involved. It means getting outside, working in pairs and something
different. They love how it is so ‘quick’.
Curriculum area best suited for: Thinking
Suitable age/ level: Year 2-3 to adult
Learning Intentions that fit best: fun/thinking laterally/cause & effect
How can app be to shared/ embed/ printed etc. not needed
Challenges: addictive, not linked to a curriculum area
Children’s reflections:
Curriculum area best suited for:
Suitable age/ level:
All
Learning Intentions that fit best:
Sharing of information quickly and easily
Use Bump to share photos and or information by simply bumping 2 Apple devices (iphones, itouches, ipads)
How can app be shared/ embed/ printed etc.
Share information by bumping
Challenges:
Only uses Apple mobile devices
you need to be close by the other device so you can bump them together